Trolley-wire guard



E. A". CRQSTON AND K. CHROBAK. TROLLEY WIRE. GUARD. APPLICATION FILED JUNE II. 1920.

Patented Oct. 26, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

E. A. CROSTON AND K. CHROBAK.

T ROLLEY WIRE GUARD. l APPLICATION FILED JUNE 1|, 1920.

@brom/w15 EMARD n onos'roN AND KAZIMIER ormonali, or Rosnivroivr, WEST VIRGINIA. I

Y l TROLLEY-WIRE @runnin "To all whomit may concern VBle it known that we, (l) EMARD A, CRosroN and (2) KAZIMIER CHROBAK, (l) a citizen "ofthey United States of America and (2) a citizen of Poland, respectively',`

residingat Rosemont, in the county of Tay" lor and `State 'of West Virginia,.have'invented certain `newr and useful Improve- Vments in TrolleyfWire Guards, of which the following is'a specification.

Y This invention relates tocertain new and` useful improvements in trolley wire guards and is particularly designed to safeguard miners against contacting with trolley wires in mines at unusually dangerous points such as where switches are located adjacent,

with allA the requirements for a successful commercial use and embodying means which will effectively Vprevent the miner from con-, tacting the trolley wire at points where the same is most likely to occur, while at the Ysame timeembodying ,structure andV operating' mechanism Vfor permitting the guard to ybe manipulated so as to ,allow passage of a trolley pole and collector when necessary. A still further object of the invention is to provide a trolley wire guard embodying a protecting tubeV adapted to normally Vinclose a portion'of the lengthof the trolley' wire at a dangerous point and composed of 4separable-sections which vare .connected to suitable actuating means whereby these sections maybe readily manually separated for permitting passage of a trolley vpole and collector at will.

W'ith the above general objects inviewv and others that will become apparent as thev nature 'of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the novel Vcombination, form and arrangement of lparts hereinafter more'fully described, shown in the'accompanying drawings and claimed.

In the drawings, wherein like reference characters indicate 1 corresponding f parts throughout'the several views," '1

Figure 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic plan viewy of a portion of .a room and pillar coal mine with the trolley wires therein equipped with guardsy in accordance with the present invention,-V v Y vFig.` 2 is a top planlview of one ofthe trolley guards,- partly broken away.

Specification of Letters Patent. Y

' Patented oct. 26,1920. j

Application led J'une 11, 1920. lSerialllo. 388,151.'

Fig. 3 is an end, elevational view thereof,

Fig.' 4L is a transversesectional view taken substantially upon'v line IV-g-IVofLFig.' 2,'

Fig. l5 is a view similar to Fig. 4L the sections of thelguard vin jexpandedor sep# arated relation, i 'v j Fig. 6 is a 'fragmentary'` side elevational, view ofthe device showny in Fig. 2,. i

" Fig.v 7 Yisa fragmentarypla viewfof tubular meinberof theguard, and A Fig. 8 is a perspective viewfon an enlarged scale of the peculiar lever vemployedV for! ,i

se arating the sections of the guard tube.v

eferring more 'in detail to the several views, the present invention contemplatesA the V provision of a guard for inclosing at' desirable points the; usualy trolley wire 5 which is supported in the entries of coal mines adjacent thev roof."l Referring to' Fig.

1, the main entry of the mine is' shown at16 i.

and is provided with the usual tracks 7 upon which therk hauling locomotives 'arefrun lfor ,transporting emptycars into'the 'minefand loaded car's'outV of the'niin'e. IA branch en' try 8 extends from the "main entryA yandisl similarly provided 'with ltracks vandv atrolley wire 7 and'5 respectively. The rooms r9` are driven laterally from the main'entry and branch tracks l0 extend intothe rooms-1 from the entry tracks 7.

As space yis, extremely, limited coal *5 mines and the trolley vwires arethus neces? sarily supportedl so asM to' beV within reach ofthe miners, it will be readily fseen thaty considerable danger yexists inl the minersy f contacting the trolley wires especially; at points where the miners havetopass this trolley wire when going ,from the main entry into they rooms as wellgas from' the main entry to the'branch'fentries.

This'invention'isprimarily adapted vto employed as shownjin 'Fig'.'l-@asa't yl1 adj a` cent the switches leading into the rooms'f9 and as 'at' l2 adjacent fthe --switches le'ading from themain entry 6 tothe branch'entry 8 whereby considerable danger to the' miners l 'Y is eliminated.V

` Each trolle wireguard ismco-mposedfof ai" f the tube beingipreferably Aformed of "a' pair.

of half'sections'l which are hingedly conifnected as atlll so that the'sectionsniay beiv separated or closed as desiredn The secti ns lare preferablyiformedof a suitable'non-conducting orl insulating ma- 11 terial and are rigidly supported in any suitable manner from the roof of the mine. As shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 6, this support for the tube may reside in suitable depending posts 16 attached at their lower ends to the tube at the pivot point of the sections of the latter and rigidly fastened at their upper ends to transverse cleats 17 which are secured rigidly to the roof of the mine as shown in Fig. 6.

Two further cleats 18 are also fastened to therroof of the mine, one at one end of the protecting tube and the other between the cleats 17, and a bracket 19 depends from and is rigid with each cleat 18.l A lever 2O is pivoted intermediate its ends to each bracket 19 and Yeach lever is provided with a curved end 21 having longitudinally disposed elongated slots 22 therein in spaced relation, each slot 22 being arranged for reception ofy a headed pin 23 fastened upon upward extensions 24 provided on each tube section 13. Further brackets 25 depend from and are rigid with the cleats 17 and 18 and these brackets 25 rotatably support a shaft 26 which is arranged outwardly of the brackets 19 as well as above and to one side of the tube formed by the sections 13. A cam 27 is fastened upon the shaft 26 adjacent the curved free end 28 of each lever 2O so that the periphery of each cam bears upon a concaved upper surface of a lever end 28. It will thus be seen that when the shaft 26 is rotated, the cams 27 cause the free ends of the levers 2() to be depressed and the inner ends thereof to beraised so as to cause the extensions- 24 to be drawn toward each other whereby the tubel sections 13 are separated or swung' away from each other as shown in Fig. 5. When the sections are thus opened, it will be seen that the guard will then not interfere with the use of this portion of the trolley wire in permitting the passage of the trolley pole and collector of a mine locomotive with the collector in contact with the wire 5. Handles 29 are provided upon the ends of the shaft 26 so as to enable the operator of the locomotive vto readily cause separation of the sections 13 when he reaches the guard tube while moving in either direction.

A second longitudinal shaft 30 is journaled in depending brackets 31 at the opposite side of the guard tubeand parallel with the shaft 26, the lengths of the two shafts 26 and 30 being substantially the same and and slightly more than the length of the guard tube. A crank 31 is fastened upon the shaft 30 and is connected by a link 32 with a spring pressed latch 33 which is normally engaged with the ratchet teeth of a disk 34 secured upon the shaft 26. It will thus be seen that the latch 33 will normally engage the teeth of the diskl 34for` preventing accidental rotation of shaft 26 so as to maintain the sections 13 closed as best seen in Fig. 3. Handles 35 are secured upon the vopposite ends of the shaft 30 so that the operator may rotate the shaft 30 from either end of the guard tube for withdrawing the catch 33 from the teeth of the disk 34 so as to permit him to rotate the shaft 26 for separating the guard sections 13.

From the foregoing description it is believed that the construction and operation as well as the advantages of the present invention will be understood by those skilled in the art. l f

Minor changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is 1. A trolley wire guard of the class described including a tube formed of separable sections, means to support said tube in position to inclose a portion of the length of a trolley wire in a mine, and means to separate the sections Vof the tube for permitting free passage of a trolley pole and collector with the collector engaged with the portion of the trolley wire normally inclosed by the tube. l i

2. A trolley wire guard of the class described/including a tube formed of separable sections, means to support said tube in position to inclose a portion of the length of a trolley wire in a mine, means to separate the section of the tube for permitting` free passage of a trolley pole and collector with the collector engaged with the portion of the trolley wire normally inclosed by thel tube, and means to retain said sections against accidental separation.y l

3. A trolley wire guard ofthe class described including a tube formed of separable sections, means to support said tube in positionto inclose a portion of the length of a trolley wire in a mine, and means to separate the section of the tube for permitting free passage of a trolley pole and collector with the collector engaged with the portion of the trolley wire normally inclosed by the tube, said means for separating the sections including an operating member arranged at each end of the tube.

4. A trolley wire guard of the class de;- scribed including a tube formed of separable sections, means to support said tube in position to inclose a portion of the length of a trolley wire in a mine, means to sepa-y rate the section of the tube for permitting free passage of a trolley pole and collector with the collector engaged with the portion of the trolley wire normally inclosed by the tube, said means for separating the sections including an operating member arranged at each end of the tube, and means to retain the sections against separation including a' releasable latch and an operating member therefor arranged at each end of the tube.

5. A trolley wire guard of the class de- 5 scribed including a supporting means, a

Jcube rigidly suspended thereby and including a pair of separable sections, a lever for separating said sections, and means for operating said lever from either endfof the tube.

In testimonyNtfhereof We affix oursignafv 

